Bongcheon Korean restaurant, ₩38,000 kodari for three: Sangdo Neulbori

Where is Sangdo Neulbori Bongcheon Station Branch, and where do you park?

Sangdo Neulbori Bongcheon Station Branch (상도늘보리 봉천역점) is at 379 Bongcheon-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul. Come out of Bongcheon Station Exit 5, turn right into the alley past Paik's Coffee, and you'll see it across the crosswalk. It's my go-to kodari (semi-dried pollock) spot near Bongcheon Station whenever the craving hits.

It's close to Bongcheon Station, so it was easy to reach by public transport.

There's room for about 3–4 cars around the restaurant, so it works for a family meal out too.

Waiting for the light at the crosswalk, the sign across the street saying "You're craving kodari right now" burned into my head like a spell, and I hadn't even eaten yet!

Sangdo Neulbori Bongcheon Station Branch menu and prices

Sangdo Neulbori Bongcheon Station Branch specializes in kodari and barley rice, and the signature dish is braised kodari (kodari-jorim). They use kodari dried by sea breeze in Sokcho, which is said to give it a chewy texture.

Here are the menu items and prices posted on the menu board.

Lunch special (not weekends or holidays)

• Braised kodari ₩13,000
• Okkumi hot plate set (duck + baby octopus) ₩14,000
• Extra dried radish greens (siraegi) ₩5,000
• Assorted rice cake add-on ₩2,000
• ※ 2 or more people, until 3 PM, one order per person

Braised kodari and hot plate dishes

• Braised kodari: 2 fish (serves 2) ₩26,000 / 3 fish (serves 3) ₩38,000 / 4 fish (serves 4) ₩50,000 / 5 fish (serves 5) ₩62,000
• Siraegi braised kodari: 2 fish (serves 2) ₩31,000 / 3 fish (serves 3) ₩43,000 / 4 fish (serves 4) ₩54,000 / 5 fish (serves 5) ₩67,000
• Abalone braised kodari: 2 fish (serves 2) ₩36,000 / 3 fish (serves 3) ₩52,000 / 4 fish (serves 4) ₩68,000
• Okkumi hot plate (duck + baby octopus): 2 servings ₩30,000 / 3 servings ₩45,000 / 4 servings ₩60,000
• Chive and baby octopus hot plate: 1 serving ₩14,000 / 1 serving ₩16,000
• Fried rice (with spicy baby octopus) ₩2,000

Sides, meals and drinks

• Sides: seasoned pork bones and radish ₩23,000, seasoned cockles ₩25,000, buckwheat rolls ₩10,000, tteokgalbi (grilled short rib patty) steak ₩12,000
• Extras: siraegi ₩5,000, chives ₩2,000, steamed cockles ₩2,000, rice (white/barley) ₩1,000
• Buckwheat rolls to go ₩10,000
• Meals: barley bibimbap ₩10,000, cockle bibimbap ₩11,000
• Drinks: soju/beer ₩5,000, makgeolli ₩4,000, Cheongha ₩6,000, Baekseju ₩10,000, bokbunja (black raspberry wine) ₩15,000, soft drinks ₩2,000
• Takeout: ₩2,000 off braised kodari, extra siraegi ₩5,000

There was also a notice that if you write a Naver receipt review, you get either a drink or a soju free. A photo of a main dish is required, and you just ask if you need a receipt.

How does the self-serve bibimbap bar work at Sangdo Neulbori Bongcheon Station Branch?

The restaurant has a self-serve bibimbap corner that goes really well with braised kodari. If you order just a bowl of rice, you can build your own bibimbap from the self-serve bar ingredients, and that was what impressed me most.

They also sell barley rice as a separate meal, but since we ordered the braised kodari, we just added 2 more bowls of rice and used the self-serve bar to make this delicious bibimbap to eat alongside. Feels like I got a bonus!

The self-serve bar even has warm sungnyung (scorched rice tea), so the finish was solid too.

Having eaten here myself, the line "We'll try to be a place that one person visits 100 times rather than one that 100 people visit once" really spoke to me.

Medium braised kodari for 3 at ₩38,000: what are the side dishes?

When you order braised kodari at Sangdo Neulbori Bongcheon Station Branch, you get neat side dishes like doenjang-pickled chili peppers, seasoned bean sprouts and nabak-kimchi (watery radish kimchi), plus seasoned seaweed (gim) and seaweed soup as standard. They went well with the spicy braised kodari and baby octopus. Wrapping kodari in the gim was great, and the hot seaweed soup was perfect for soothing the stomach.

Egg custard, which other places make you pay extra for, is free here, which made it feel even more like a bargain.

Once the star of the show, the braised kodari, joined the table, we had a truly generous spread.

How does the braised kodari at Sangdo Neulbori taste?

The medium braised kodari for 3 that we ordered came with 3 big, appetizing kodari. The spicy-sweet sauce had soaked deep into the fish, and it looked so good my mouth was watering just looking at it.

The kodari flesh was firm yet chewy. Pulling the meat apart with chopsticks and dipping it in plenty of sauce brought out its rich savory depth, and it was clean and mild with no fishy taste, so it was easy to eat.

You can't skip the sauce-soaked radish and potatoes in braised kodari either. The well-cooked radish and crumbly potatoes had absorbed plenty of sauce, and it was fun eating them with the kodari. Alternating radish and potato between bites of kodari made for an amazing combination.

The sauce at Sangdo Neulbori Bongcheon Station Branch was especially good. It wasn't overly hot or harsh; it balanced sweet, spicy and salty, and it paired really well with the kodari.

There were tteokbokki rice cakes in it too, and picking them out between bites was a nice little bonus.

If you ask for more seasoned seaweed (gim), they bring extra, so we wrapped to our heart's content. The combination with gim is so good.

Scorched rice to finish, and overall verdict

We finished on a nutty note with scorched rice (nurungji). The medium braised kodari has 3 fish, so it was a good main dish for three people, and we got to enjoy the fish, the sauce, the radish and potatoes, and even the rice cakes.

Whether I made self-serve bibimbap with the spicy sauce, or pulled off kodari meat and put it on rice with the sauce and wrapped it in gim, this medium braised kodari for 3 was delicious.

When you want a proper Korean meal near Bongcheon Station, this is a good-value, filling choice, and next time I'd like to try the stir-fried baby octopus and the barley rice with seasonal greens.

Sangdo Neulbori Bongcheon Station Branch hours

• Opens: 11:30 AM
• Closes: 9:30 PM
• Last order: 9:00 PM
• Open 365 days, no break time